Kjeld Lauritsen
”You play like me, only upside down”. These were the words of legendary blues piano master ”Champion Jack Dupree”, when he met Kjeld Lauritsen and aquainted his keyboard playing many years ago.
Kjeld, heavily inspired by the modern jazz masters, worked hard on his right hand solo playing, leaving the left hand alone. No so Dupree, with his heavy twohanded approach. Kjeld started working at the bottom of the keyboard, which has helped him a lot later in his career.
Tired of the worn-out pianos and loud bands in blues he began a career as a Hammond Player. His organ-jazz has been so much in demand that he hardly has played a piano-gig since then.
Following the great masters he mixes jazz and blues, but always with some compositions of his own and an unexpected twist to his music. A mainstay of Copenhagens nightspot, The La Fontaine, he has been a prominent figure in danish jazz for the last decades.
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Kjeld Lauritsen
”You play like me, only upside down”. These were the words of legendary blues piano master ”Champion Jack Dupree”, when he met Kjeld Lauritsen and aquainted his keyboard playing many years ago.
Kjeld, heavily inspired by the modern jazz masters, worked hard on his right hand solo playing, leaving the left hand alone. No so Dupree, with his heavy twohanded approach. Kjeld started working at the bottom of the keyboard, which has helped him a lot later in his career.
Tired of the worn-out pianos and loud bands in blues he began a career as a Hammond Player. His organ-jazz has been so much in demand that he hardly has played a piano-gig since then.
Following the great masters he mixes jazz and blues, but always with some compositions of his own and an unexpected twist to his music. A mainstay of Copenhagens nightspot, The La Fontaine, he has been a prominent figure in danish jazz for the last decades.
Recently he recorded the trio CD and LP ”Oblivion” and this funky music will be presented at the concert together with compositions by the Guitarplayer Per Gade.
Per Gade
Many years on the road with world renowned drummer Billy Cobham made Per tired of looking at airports and hotelrooms. After his homecoming he teamed up with Hammond Organnist Kjeld Lauritsen where he is the perfect choice with tasty comping and great soloing.
Being call nr. 1 for many occations he is among others member of the Danish Radio Big Band. Although he has recorded 2 albums under his own name he never finds the time to follow up on his solo-career, and Kjeld Lauritsen is one of the guys who profits from this guitar hero.
Espen Laub
You will hardly find a drummer in europe with a swingin’ beat as strong as Espen Laub von Lillienskjold. Already in his pre-teens he was subbing in rehearsals with his fathers jazzgroup. He was the youngest ever drummer to join the “Aarhus Jazz Orchestra”. After moving to Copenhagen he became one of the busiest percussionists in the country. He has played with a wide range of bands from swing to experimental and is a house drummer at the famous jazz Club “La Fontaine” in the historic center of Copenhagen.
”You play like me, only upside down”. These were the words of legendary blues piano master ”Champion Jack Dupree”, when he met Kjeld Lauritsen and aquainted his keyboard playing many years ago.
Kjeld, heavily inspired by the modern jazz masters, worked hard on his right hand solo playing, leaving the left hand alone. No so Dupree, with his heavy twohanded approach. Kjeld started working at the bottom of the keyboard. Tired of the worn-out pianos and loud bands in blues he began a career as a Hammond Player. His organ-jazz has been so much in demand that he hardly has played touched a piano since.
Following the great masters he mixes jazz and blues, but always with some compositions of his own and an room for spontaneous improvisation. A mainstay of Copenhagens nightspot, The La Fontaine, he has been a prominent figure in danish jazz for decades.
Per Gade
Many years on the road with world renowned drummer Billy Cobham made Per tired of looking at airports and hotelrooms. After his homecoming he teamed up with Hammond Organnist Kjeld Lauritsen where he is the perfect choice with tasty comping and great soloing.
Being call nr. 1 for many occations he is among others member of the Danish Radio Big Band. Although he has recorded 2 albums under his own name he never finds the time to follow up on his solo-career, and Kjeld Lauritsen is one of the guys who profits from this guitar hero.
Per has contributed to the band not only with his great guitarplaying, but also with numerous compositions, rooted in the tradition but with a harmonic and melodic richness rarely seen in organ Jazz.
The drummer Espen Laub von Lillienskjold‘s knows the tradition. More than that he has his own style and knows how to make music swing in many ways. Espen has the wide dynamic range needed for the difficult acoustics in the churches. Already in his pre-teens his father made him sit in with his big band in north jutland, and Espen has not looked back since. A faboulous drummer and one of the best sidemen in jazz in northern Europe.
Kjeld Lauritsen is one of the few remaining jazz organ players, who plays the big Hammond Organ with rotating leslie speakers and bass pedals.
In his younger days he was a profile on the danish blues scene, which gave him a background similar to many of the original organ grinders.
When he started his own jazz combo – The Organizers – with Bob Rockwell on saxophone, succes came immediately. 7 CDs with this group, 3 under his own name and 2 records with big-bands followed.
In 2011 he released a CD with a 7-piece band playing homegrown compositions from jazz and blues to beyond. The title of this group is Hammond Organ 7. Also two records with with jazz standards together with Icelandic saxophonist Sigurdur Flosason plus a few funky jazz CD/LP with his own trio.
Latest release in the summer of 2021 is a trio record devoted to jazz standards in the style of Jimmy Smith and Joey DeFrancesco
The Press wrote:
“Who ever thinks of North European people thinks of cool people, the counterpart of Mediterranian people. But you did not know Kjeld Lauritsen, the hot jazz man at the Hammond. May be his attitude is friendly and restrained but you will experience a total different music: swinging, cooking, just a very active asset of the Danish jazz scene”.
- Jürgen Wolf, http://www.iajo.org/
“Only very few people can play jazz on organ, but in Denmark we have a master
Kjeld showed his excellent skills as an organplayer, that covers ground from the massive and agressive to the very subtle, underlined by his foot pedal playing. He is really fantastic at playing bass with his feet.”
(from Aarhus Jazzfestival 2009)
”Hammond Time!” is a wonderful record that just makes you happy. It really swings, and Kjeld lift the heritage from great people like Jimmy McGriff in a sublime way.”
- Jan Olsson, Sydsvenska Dagbladet (Sweden)
Jazzfullness: https://kjeldlauritsen.lnk.to/Oblivion2
A whiter shade of blue: https://KjeldLauritsen.lnk.to/Oblivion1
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